16alpha-17alpha-epoxido-delta4-pregnene-21-ol-3, 20-dione derivatives and the 21-esters thereof



United States Pat n 16a-17u-EPOXIDO-M-PREGNENErZLOL-SJO-DIONE DERIVATIVES AND THEREOF Eugene J. Agnello, Barry M. Bloom, and Gerald D. Laubach, Jackson Heights, N.Y., assiguors to Chas. Pfizer 4:: Co., Inc, Brooklyn, N .Y., a corporation of Deiawar'e No Drawing. Filed Apr. 1, 1957, so. No. 649,660

s Claims. c1. 260239.55)

This invention is concernedwith certain novel steroids;

In particular, it is concerned with the products formed so produced are valuable steroid compounds, for example,

Compound F. It has now been found that this'process may be applied to 16a,l7a-epoxido-A -pregnene-2l-ol 3,20-dione and the 21-esters thereof. Among the resulting products are those formed by" the introduction of'an llfi-hydroxyl .group, or of a.14o:-hydroxyl group, or of both. The following equations. show these reactions. In these formulas R is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and hydrocarbon acyl groups containing up to about ten carbon atoms. ,3

CHIOR 5:0 o CH 0: O

l a 0H3 CH3 CH OR ,CH OR 0 0 0 0 I CH CH II III Each of these products is a very valuable compound. In the case of Compound 11 and Compound IV, treat ment with a hydrogen halide by known means resultsin the opening of the epoxide ring with the introduction of an hydroxyl group in the" Una-position and a halogen atom V in the 16-position. Hydrogen bromide is panticularly use tul for this purpose. Removal of the bromine substituent by means of zincor Raney nickel and hydrogen then results in the formation of Compound F, in the case of Compound II, and of the very valuable biologically active l4a-hydroxy Compound Him the case of Compound IV. Compound III, when treated with p-toluenesulfonic acid, loses the 14-hydroxy group and has a double bond introduced at the 14-p0sition.; When the epoxide ring of this product is treated as described above, there is formed A -dehydro Compound S, a valuable intermediate for the synthesis of the biologically active""A -dehydro-Compound F.

The products obtained by treating Compounds III or IV with HX, i.e. a hydrogen halide, are also novel and of particular value as intermediates in the synthesis of 14a-hydr0xy F by the route above described. These new compounds may be represented by the formula wherein R has the values hereinbefore indicated, X is the halogen atom (bromine, chlorine, fluorine or iodine), and Y is either a methylene group or the fl-hydroxyl group Still another class of new products is formed when Compound IV is treated with weak chrornous salts, for instance chromous acetate, in a liquid medium like glacial acetic acid, under mild conditions. The epoxide ring is also broken in this case, but hydrogen is introduced at C and an u-hydroxyl group at C thus:

This structure can be named generically as 14a,16a-dihydroxycorticosterone and its 21-esters. This method is described by Julian in J. Org. Chem. 19, 131 (1954) as applied to other compounds, and it is also efiective here. One further series of'new steroids is formed when either Compound II, Compound III or Compound IV is treated with aqueous acid by, well known procedures. These products can be represented by the general formula CHa CHQOR VII wherein R and Y have the meanings hereinbefore established and R is either hydrogen or hydroxyl. Notable examples of this series are 165-hydroxy Compound F and 14u,1618-dihydroxy Compound -F and their respective 21- hydrocarbon carboxylic acid esters.

These products of the structural Formulae VI and VII have particular utility as anti-inflammatory agents being even more effective than such compounds as cortisone and hydrocortisone. They are highly active in such standard tests as the rat thymus involution test, mouse liver glycogen test and in various animal anti-inflammatory tests. Furthermore, they have the distinct advantage of not causing salt retention in the tissues.

The following examples are given by way of illustration and are not intended as a limitation of this invention. Indeed, as many apparently widely different embodiments of the present invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope hereof, it is to be understood that the invention is only limited as defined in the appended claims.

Example I A culture of the organism Curvularia lunata NRRL 2380 was rinsed from an agar slant under sterile condi- 4 tions into a sterile medium having the following composition:

Distilled Water, adjusted to pH 7.0 with potassium hydroxide.

One hundred milliliters of this medium was used in each of several three hundred-milliliter flasks. To each flask was added 50 milligrams of commercially available 16,17-epoxido-desoxycorticosterone Zl-acetate dissolved in a small volume of acetone. Throughout these operations the fermentation mixture was maintained under sterile conditions. The mixture was then shaken for a period of seven days at a temperature of about 28 C. The contents of the flasks were combined and extracted with several portions of ethylene dichloride using onefiith the volume of the aqueous phase each time. The combined ethylene dichloride extracts were dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and, after the drying agent was removed, the solvent was removed under vacuum.

The ethylene dichloride concentrate was placed on a chromatographic column consisting of silica gel mixed with a small volume of ethanol (one milliliter of solvent per gram of silica gel). The column was developed by means of a mixture of 97 volumes of methylene chloride and three volumes of ethanol. The effluent from the column was collected in small fractions of equal volume and periodically these were examined by means of paper chromatography in order to separate the fractions containing the desired product. All of these fractions were concentrated under vacuum to dryness to obtain solid products.

These products were identified as the acetates respectively of Compounds H, III, and IV above.

Example 11 A suspension of the Compound HI acetate product of Example I was prepared by adding 10 g. of the compound to 100 m1. of glacial acetic acid. To this solution were added 10 ml. of 5 N hydrogen bromide in glacial acetic acid keeping the temperature at 15 to 20 C. The colorless solution was allowed to come to room temperature and held there for 1% hours. At the end of this period the desired compound was precipitated from the solution by dropwise addition of water and recrystallized from ethyl acetate-petroleum ether. It was identified as A pregnene 14a,17a,21-triol-l6fi-bromo-3,20-dione-2lacetate.

This procedure was repeated, employing instead the acetate of Compound IV. The product thus recovered was A pregnene 11 3,14oz,170:,2l-i6tt0l-16fi-bl0m0-3,20- dione-21-acetate.

Each of the acetates of Compounds III and IV was similarly treated, but substituting in one set of reactions hydrogen fluoride, and in another hydrogen chloride, and in another hydrogen iodide, in lieu of the hydrogen bromide. The corresponding 16fi-fluoro, 16fi-chloroand lfifi-iodo-pregnenes were thus obtained.

Example Ill Compound IV acetate (.015 mole, 5.8 grams) was placed in ml. of glacial acetic acid at room tempera ture in a carbon dioxide atmosphere. To this were added an equimolar proportion of chromous acetate in 65 ml. of glacial acetic acid. A clear solution resulted, which was then diluted with water and extracted with methylene chloride. Three 40 ml. extracts were thus obtained. These were combined and washed successively with water, sodium bicarbonate solution and again water. Upon concentration 5 grams of crude 14u,l6u-dihydroxycorticosterone-Zl-acetate was obtained. This was reextracted with 20 ml. acetone and 200 ml. anhydrous ether, refiuxed her 15 minutes, filtered and washed with ether to give about 1 gram of purified product.

Example IV Each of the three acetate products of Example I was treated with dilute aqueous acid by the following procedure: 200 mg. of the epoxide in m1, of tetrahydrofurane was treated with 2 ml. of 3 N perchloric acid. The mixture was stirred at room temperature for six hours. The mixture was then poured into 5% sodium bicarbonate solution. The precipitated product was filtered, washed with water and dried. It was recrystallized from ethyl acetate. The product of the reaction with Compound II acetate was 16,8-hydroxy (iompound F acetate; that with Compound III was A -pregnene-l4ot, 16 8,l7a,21-tetrol-3,20-dione-2l-acetate; and that from Compound IV was identified as 14a,16;3-dihydroxy Compound F acetate.

Example V The free alcohols of the acetates of Examples I through IV were each prepared by hydrolysis by addition of one molar proportion of potassium carbonate to a methanol solution of the acetate. The mixtures were allowed to stand at room temperature one hour. They were then made slightly acidic and precipitated by pouring dropwise into sodium chloride solution, filtered, washed with water, and dried.

Example VI A variety of esters of the products of Example V were made by treating 5 each of the free alcohols with acylating agents by conventional methods. These included such compounds as the formate, the propionate, the isobutyrate, the hexanoate, the benzoate, the octanoate, the stearate, the hemisuccinate, the trimethylacetate, the cyclohexane carboxylate, and the cyclopentyl propion'ate.

What is claimed is:

1. 16u,17ot epoxido A pregnene 11B,14a,21- triol 3,20 dione.

2. 160:,170: epoxido A pregnene 11fl,14a,21 triol- 3,20 dione 21 acetate.

. 6 3. 16ot,17oc epoxido A pregnene 140:,21 diol- 3,20 dione 21 acetate.

4. A compound having the formula wherein R is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and hydrocarbon acyl radicals containing up to ten carbon atoms.

5. A compound having the formula onion i on wherein R is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and hydrocarbon acyl radicals containing up to ten carbon atoms. 

4. A COMPOUND HAVING THE FORMULA
 5. A COMPOUND HAVING THE FORMULA 